Joanna,

That is very common for doritaenopsis, especially when they have a lot of
doritis in their background.

When you repot, do so to the same depth that it is currently. The plantlet
will grow fine from there. It is probably growing from the base of the
mother plant, and may never get a sufficient, independent root system to be
separated, but just think of the display when it matures and both are
blooming!

It is also likely that you'll get more of the same as time goes by.

One last thing: correct your tag. It's either Dtps. Talitha Klehm or Dtps.
Talitha's Gem, which is the former crossed back to Doritis pulcherrima.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

.. . . . . . . . . . .
"J Fortuna" wrote in message
...
As I was watering my Dtps Talitha Gem this morning, I noticed the tip of a
new leaf coming out of the bark below the mother plant. I know that Dtps
hybrids that are close to the Doritis parent can have basal keikis even
when
healthy, but this is not exactly a basal keiki since it definitely starts
below the base. I uncovered the bark that was covering the leaf, and the
leaf starts about 1 inch below surface level -- I can't tell what it is
growing out of until I repot, I was planning to repot tomorrow anyway. So
far it looks like it is only one leaf. The mother plant looks healthy and
she is growing a new leaf of her own from the top center of her crown
right
now. But this new baby leaf that starts below surface looks fairly healthy
too, though perhaps a little pale and a little fragile, but it's still
very
small (only about 1.5 inches in length, only about .5 of which were above
the surface before I undug it this morning).

My questions:
1) Has anyone seen anything like that?
2) When I repot this plant tomorrow, should I ensure that the leaf starts
above the surface of the media, even if this means that the media surface
will have to be much lower than it would be otherwise, or be quite
lopsided?
3) I was planning to change from bark to moss when repotting, since I am
trying to get as many of my plants into moss as possible, for my own
convenience (since I am not good at judging when a plant needs water if it
is in bark). The sister plant to this one has already been repotted into
moss, and now I know that watering once a week is just right with this
size
pot in moss in my environment. Now that I have this sub-surface keiki,
should I reconsider these plans? Are there any reasons not to use moss
when
repotting this plant (as long as I try to keep this leaf somehow from
being
buried in the media which will be a challenge)?

If you have trouble understanding my explanation or questions, please let
me
know and I will try to rephrase. I noticed that my sentence structure
above
is rather bizarre, but I am trying to explain and ask complex things, and
then I tend to get lost in my own sentences. :-)

Thanks,
Joanna